Miri
by RodianSinger
Summary: Based on a comment that my dad made. This is the Episode "Miri" rewritten with Chapel in the place of Yeomen Rand. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**I usually don't do disclaimers, but since this story is a direct take-off of an existing episode I have to say: Adrian Spies owns the events of this story. I do not in any way claim to take credit for his ideas, I'm just having a little fun mucking around with them.**

One of the duties of the Enterprise was to come to the aid of any vessel or colony that required it. Which was how they had come to investigate the signal they were now analyzing.

Remarkably similar to old Earth distress calls, the crew had originally believed it to be from an Earth colony or ship. But as they traced it back to it's source the case became more and more perplexing. Scans indicated that the planet was in an untraveled region of the galaxy and therefore had no contact with or knowledge of the federation. And yet the parallels were eerie, beginning but not ending with the ancient distress call that was drawing them steadily nearer.

"Earth style distress signal," Kirk observed, from his position at the helm "S-O-S."

"I've answered it on all frequencies sir. They don't reply." Lieutenant Uhura announced from her station.

"Not a vessel," Mr Spock said. "A ground source. The third planet in this solar system according to my instruments.

Uhura continued her analysis of the signal. "Directly ahead. Definitely an earth style signal".

"We're hundreds of light years form earth Mr Spock. No colonies or vessels out this far". Kirk moved back to his chair while he spoke, pressing the button that would summon Doctor McCoy to the bridge.

"Measuring the planet now captain,"Spock said, his gaze fixed on his viewer. "Spheroid shape. Circumference: Twenty four thousand eight hundred seventy four miles. Mass: six times ten to the twenty first power tons".

The reading were beginning to sound awfully familiar.

"Mean density: five point five one seven. Atmosphere." Here Mr Spock paused briefly before continuing. "Oxygen nitrogen".

"Earth." Yeoman Rand said, echoing the thoughts of everyone present on the bridge as they stared in disbelief at the blue and green planet rotating serenely on the main viewer.

"Not _the_ Earth," Kirk corrected her. "_Another_ Earth."

"Another Earth."

_Captain's log, star date 2713.5. In the distant reaches of our galaxy we've made an astonishing discovery: Earth type radio signals coming from a planet which is apparently an exact duplicate of the Earth. It seems impossible, but there it is._

Kirk concluded his log entry for the time being. "Hold us in a fixed orbit Mr Spock." He ordered. Then directed his next comment to Lieutenant Uhura. "Still no response to communications?"

"None Captain." She replied.

"We'll beam down. Alert security. Prepare to transport landing party to surface." He had already selected and notified the officers that were to beam down with him. "We'll land in the vicinity of the distress signal now being received." And with that, he hopped of his chair and disappeared into the turbo lift with Doctor McCoy and Mr Spock close behind.

The architecture of the town was an exact duplicate of 1960's Earth. As though it had been copied directly from the surviving photographs. Copied, and then abandoned. The structures were broken down and crumbling, not a single window or door frame remained intact and the furniture inside seemed to be spilling out onto the streets in bits and pieces as though they'd been ransacked. Long forgotten motor vehicles that were more rust than metal peppered the dusty streets that threaded in between and around the decrepit buildings.

It was in the middle of one such street that six figures materialized, eager to find answers as to the eerie silence that greeted them.

Kirk was the first to break the silence. "Identical." He commented, scanning the surrounding buildings. "Earth, as it was in the early nineteen hundreds".

"More the _mid_ nineteen hundreds Captain", Spock cut in, his tricorder whirring. "I'd say approximately nineteen sixty."

"But where is everybody?" Chapel was the first to ask, although the question was on everybody's mind. She had her own tricorder out, set to scan for life signs. Still reeling from the discovery of her fiancee's death several days prior, Kirk had selected her for the landing party sensing that she needed a distraction. So far she was performing admirably.

"Readings indicate that natural deterioration has been taking place on this planet for at least several centuries". Spock countered.

"But there are life forms present." Chapel predicted, glancing from her tricorder screen to their surroundings and back again.

"Not necessarily Lieutenant. The evidence would suggest that the distress signal is automated."

Kirk made a point never to get between two scientist arguing hypotheses, so he remained silent and moved off to continue the search.

Doctor McCoy, on the other hand, had no such reservations. "Now this is marvellous. The most horrible conglomeration of antique architecture I've ever seen." He said, insinuating himself between the two officers, with his usual scowl.

They all exchanged brief glances before moving off to follow the Captain.

None of them noticed the door that had been standing ajar. Silently, it was pushed closed by an unseen observer inside.

"Mr Spock". Kirk called to his first officer, drawing his attention to the pile of refuse in the street. Curiously, he picked up the remains of what had once been a tricycle. Identical in every detail to the design that had originated on earth. He turned it over briefly before handing it over to Mr Spock who immediately passed it off to Doctor McCoy.

McCoy looked at the broken toy with a level of consideration that his fellow officers hadn't, wondering at the kid who had ridden and played on it all those hundreds of years ago, and what had become of them.

He set the tricycle down gently, spinning one of the wheels idly, lost in thought.

Suddenly the silence was shattered by a piercing cry.

"Mine!"

McCoy turned just in time to see something that might have once been human dart from one off the buildings and come barrelling towards him, yelling.

"Mine!"

The creature slammed into Doctor McCoy knocking him into the dust, where it attempted to wrap it's mottled grey hands around his throat. He did his best to defend himself, but the thing was strong in a way that only a madman could be.

Alerted by the thing's cry, Kirk and Spock raced to the Doctor's aid. It took their combined strength to pull the thing off of him.

"Are you alright?" Christine asked, helping him to his feet, their eyes fixed on the fight that was now taking place.

Kirk and Spock were attempting to restrain the thing, but with it's enormous strength it was a losing fight. Realizing that it couldn't be reasoned with, Kirk let lose a mighty blow directly to it's chin, sending it sprawling in the dirt. Any normal person would have stayed down, but it was quickly back on it's feet and charged at them again.

It took three blows before the creature finally stopped getting back up. It lay in the dirt next to the tricycle, whimpering pathetically.

"It's broke," It sobbed, indicating the remains of the tricycle. "Somebody broke it." It looked around at the officers surrounding it. "Fix. Somebody please fix"

"Of course. Somebody will fix it." McCoy said reassuringly.

Mr Spock scrutinized the life form. "Definitely humanoid in spite of the distortion."

"But with the mind of a child." Kirk pointed out. He rested his hand on it's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. Instead he felt it jerk violently beneath his palm.

"Bones what is it?" He asked as the creature continued to jerk and tremble involuntarily.

"A seizure of some type". McCoy replied, as Christine knelt beside him, scanning the convulsing figure on the ground.

"We want to help you". Kirk said calmly, keeping his hand on it's shoulder.

"Liar!" It screamed, the anger returning as suddenly as it had left. "Fibber." The convulsions grew worse as it continued to yell nonsensically. "Fibber. Fibber. Ha! Fibber."

Eventually the shaking subsided and the creature collapsed in the dirt, where it lay unmoving.

"It's dead," McCoy announced, then exclaimed: "It's incredible"

"What is?" Kirk asked curiously.

"It's metabolic rate, it's impossibly high. As if it's burning itself up. Almost as if it's aged a century in just the past few minutes". They all looked to Christine, who was the bio-researcher of the group, but she shook her head helplessly. It was like nothing she'd ever encountered in her studies.

Just then there was a sound of movement from down the street. "Come on". Kirk said, taking off in the direction of the noise. Spock, McCoy and Chapel followed, joined by the two security guards who'd been scouting the area. They rounded the corner to find that whoever they'd been pursuing had managed to duck into one of the buildings, leaving them with no idea as to where they'd gone.

As they stood, trying to decide where to look next, there was the creaking sound of a door closing behind them. All six officers turned and ran towards the building the sound had come from, finding the door thankfully unlocked. Kirk entered first followed closely by Spock and a security guard.

The interior was just as shabby and ancient as the exterior. It seemed to be a long abandoned house, the carpets and furniture faded and threadbare. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust adding to the atmosphere of abandonment.

Kirk motioned for one of the security men to check the upstairs, while the rest of them investigated the ground floor.

"How old is this thing?" He asked Mr Spock, indicating the piano standing in the corner.

"About three hundred years". He estimated.

Their attention was immediately taken by a very audible thud from the closet and they all moved to surround the closed door.

"Come out," Kirk said, phaser ready. "We mean you no harm."

When it became apparent that their quarry would not comply with Kirk's demands, he silently signalled Spock, who confirmed the command with a slight nod. Kirk gripped the doorknob, both officers poised to take on any unexpected action, and in one seamless motion, he flung the door open to reveal the thing they had chased in the hopes of gaining answers.

**Okay, I know there hasn't been much Christine yet, but there will be. It takes me an amazingly long time to get just a short section of story written due to the fact that I'm copying the dialogue word for word from the episode.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, sorry to keep you waiting. But I did warn you, that this takes a long time. Also I think you'll find that this chapter is quite a bit longer than the first. Enjoy, and pease comment. Seriously, don't starve the authors. We need those crumbs.**

The girl that stood in the closet with her arms clasped protectively about her could not have been more different from the thing that they had encountered outside.

She was young, approximately thirteen or fourteen, clothed in an ill-fitting faded floral dress. Her thick brown hair hanging messily around her smudged face. She wore an expression of absolute terror, which morphed into frightened shock when she saw them.

"Don't hurt me please," she said, drawing back and tightening her arms around herself.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Kirk assured her, stepping forward.

She Either didn't understand or didn't believe him. "No please don't I didn't do anything," she pleaded

"I won't hurt you."

"No please don't". She seemed to be trying to melt into the closet wall.

Kirk continued to move slowly towards her as though she were a frightened animal, that he didn't want to startle. "I only want to talk to you."

She took another step back. "No don't! Don't hurt."

"I won't hurt you." He grasped her gently but firmly by her shoulders and guided her out of the closet to sit in one of the dusty, faded chairs, helped by reassurances from Dr McCoy.

Christine hung back. She'd never been very good with children. The younger ones were easy enough to deal with but she'd leave this one to their very charismatic Captain.

Once Kirk had her seated, albeit somewhat uncertainly, he turned to Mr Spock.

"Take the guards have a look outside. Radioactive readings, chemical pollutions, any further signs of life," He instructed him in undertones, not wanting to alarm the poor girl.

"Aye captain," he answered, motioning for the guards to follow him.

Kirk turned back to the girl, observed her silently. Her posture was tense, as though she was prepared to run at any moment, but she seemed willing to trust them to some extent.

Christine and McCoy, who had moved to stand next to him were regarding her with the same bewildered curiosity.

"I wonder what happened to her that she should be so terrified of us," McCoy mused darkly.

For that, Kirk had no answer.

...

Three strange ones came out of the house. One of them, the tall one with the funny ears, signalled to the two dressed in red and they headed off in two different directions. The tall one wandered uncertainly towards the hidden onlies, looking at the black box in his hands.

A single grubby fist reached up to rub a clean patch in the window for a better look, but quickly retreated when the tall grup apparently attracted by the faint movement came towards them with a frightening purpose in his stride. He peered confusedly in through the small hole in the grime that he was certain hadn't been there a moment before. But inside, all was darkness.

...

"But I remember the things you grups did. Burning yelling, hurting people". The girl said quietly, refusing to meet anybody's eyes. Kirk was trying his best to project a calming reassuring presence for the girl, she seemed convinced that she was in grave danger from the three officers.

"We didn't do anything like that." Kirk said, injecting all the sincerity he could muster into his voice.

She finally looked at him uncertainly. "You're not going to hurt?"

"Of course not. We're here to help."

"Grups don't help."

"But we will," Christine finally spoke up.

"What happened here. Where is everybody?" Kirk asked.

"You know," The girl replied stubbornly.

"No I don't," Kirk admitted. "Won't you tell me?"

"You got a foolie is that it?" She asked suddenly And you want me to play but I can't. I don't know the rules I've got to know the rules," she insisted.

"Kirk's brow furrowed at the strange word. "Foolie?"

"A game you know. You can't play a game without rules. Even grups ought a know that."

"What are 'grups'?"

"You are. They were, when onlies get old," She said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

A little light went on inside Christine's head at her words. "Grown ups," she translated, one eyebrow raised. If that were true, it would explain why she seemed so afraid of them.

"You said something about the grups doing bad things," Kirk pried gently, "Yelling hurting burning."

"That was when they started to get sick in the before time," she explained. "We hid, then they were gone," She turned her dark eyes on Captain Kirk, a glimmer of hope showing in their depths. "Am Idoing all right?"

"You're doing fine." He could almost sense her gradually loosening up, letting him in. She was even sitting differently. Facing him more openly, instead of hiding her face.

McCoy noticed it too and decided to satisfy his own curiosity. "You said the grups got sick. Is that why there aren't any of them around?" He asked.

The girl nodded shyly in his direction. "Yes, they died. That was after the awful things."

"A plague Captain," McCoy addressed Kirk. "That could explain a lot of it."

Both men turned to Nurse Chapel, the biochemist of the group for her professional opinion.

"It's entirely possible," she confirmed. "At this level of medical advancement they wouldn't have been able to isolate and treat a particularly violent strain fast enough to save themselves." She had studied many similar cases on various world throughout federation history. This would be one of the more devastating cases, but it wasn't unheard of.

But that didn't explain everything.

"What about the children?" Kirk asked. "The...onlies? Didn't the awful things affect them?

"Of course not. We're here aren't we." He had to commend her simple logic.

But her use of the word 'we' wasn't lost on him. "More of you. How many?"

"All there are." Kirk sensed that she had opened up just about as much as she was going to for now. He motioned silently for McCoy and Chapel to give him some space and moved to sit on the arm of the chair, trying to project an air of companionship.

"What's your name?" He asked conversationally.

She looked up at him. "Miri"

"Miri," he repeated softly. "Pretty name, for a pretty young woman". He gave her his best, dazzling Captain's smile, and she responded with one of her own.

"Pretty?" She asked, eyes shining.

"Very pretty."

...

Spock lead the two security men into a cluttered back alley. There were many places here for a strange life form to be lurking. He kept his gaze focused on the decrepit scaffolding that climbed the side of the building like ivy while the security men went on ahead, disappearing around the corner.

He moved slowly, his phaser at the ready, stepping around around an old rusted ladder that lead up to the first level while squinting his eyes against the brightness of the sun.

Just then there was a terrible clattering of metal on metal from above as though something had been dropped on one of the steel platforms. Spock spun around calling for the two security guards who promptly reappeared, phasers drawn. "Cover me," He instructed, and started up the ladder to investigate.

He'd only made it several steps up when the sound of children's voices came drifting around the corner chanting nonsensically.

"Na na nanana. Na na nanana..."

He jumped back down to stand next to his men as they went to investigate. The voices had definitely come from ground level and not above as he had originally suspected. The moved cautiously toward where they seemed to be although it was hard to tell in the brick corridors of the streets, which reflected and reverberated sound from every direction.

They realized that they were being toyed with when fist sized chunks of masonry began to rain down from the rooftops above threatening to seriously injure them. Spock reacted instinctively, protecting his officers first, pushing them against the nearest wall before throwing his free arm up over his own head.

Miraculously, none of them were hit with the deadly projectiles and the assault stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Spock looked around in confusion as the chanting started up again, faster and louder this time seeming to come from everywhere at once.

"Na na nanana, Na na nanana. Na na nanana..."

...

Christine had taken over questioning Miri, trying to get as many details about this mysterious plague she had hinted at, but to no avail. The girl clearly preferred Captain Kirk and had clammed up the minute Christine had opened her mouth. She'd just given up trying to get her to talk when Mr Spock returned to report his findings to the Captain.

"Children Captain. Lots of them," McCoy and Christine moved in to listen as well. "We couldn't begin to get close to them they just seemed to scurry away. Like animals. Only children," he added in bewilderment.

"Miri said all the adults died."

"That creature which attacked us was certainly no child." McCoy pointed out.

"It could have been suffering from the disease she's talking about," Christine suggested. "I couldn't get much out of her, we have no idea what the symptoms are."

Kirk glanced at his officers, all looking to him, Waiting for him to declare their next move. There were no adults that they knew of, so they clearly wouldn;t be getting any help from the local population. They would have turn elsewhere.

"There must be records somewhere," he decided abruptly "And answers to some of our questions." He turned back to Miri.

"Miri do you know any buildings where the doctors used to work?"

She nodded, he face brightening at Kirk's voice. "Yes I know that. Them and their pills and things."

"Will you take me there?"

"That's a bad place," She warned, a hint of fear creeping into her voice.

But Kirk wouldn't be swayed by her fears, however justified they may have been. "It's important." he insisted. "Please."

Miri melted at the sound of his gently beseeching tone. "All right," She said, and he offered her his hand to help her up.

"Do you have a name too?" she asked, gazing up at him.

"Yes," he said, hazel eyes sparkling. "It's Jim."

Her face abruptly broke out in a goofy girlish grin. "I like that name."

"Good. I like yours too. I like you." He added softly.

"Do You really?"

"I wouldn't lie to you," he answered sincerely.

"I wouldn't lie to you either Jim" She seemed to take special pleasure in saying his first name. "I remember the grups but you're nice, you're different."

"Thank you." In a gesture of comfort, he reached up to touch his fingertips to her chin, smiling his most endearing smile.

Suddenly her eyes went wide and she backed away fearfully, grabbing his hand as though she was afraid it would attack her.

"It's already starting." She said in a strangled whisper. "I knew it would. Just like it did with the grups."

It took no time at all for Kirk to spot the thing that she was talking about. There, on the ball of his hand, which she held so fearfully in front of her face was a small patch of splotchy diseased skin.

Even Kirk, who had no experience in the field of medicine could see that it was the same affliction that had covered the body of the creature. He raised the hand to his face in disbelief while Miri continued her hysterical narrative.

"It'll spread all over you and you'll yell and you'll try to hurt everybody and then you'll die." she predicted shrilly. "I knew it would I knew it would."

This time Kirk had no comforting words to offer the poor girl.

And nether did anyone else.


End file.
